By Robert Nilsen
MONTEREY PARK, CA – The Cypress College swim and dive team sent seven Chargers to the CCCAA Swimming and Diving State Championships at East Los Angeles College this past weekend. The Chargers put together strong performances and took home one individual state championships and broke one school record.
Diver Alejandra Gomez, the Orange Empire Conference Champion and the Southern California Regional Champion had an impressive meet as she put together two great performances on the 1M and 3M boards. On the first day of the meet she finished runner up on the 1M board as she finished with 232.55 points just 12 points behind Santa Barbara City diver Gina Jacobsen. She responded the next day by winning the state championship on the 3M board as she racked up 259.15 points and won by 12 points over Las Positas diver Valentina Barbalinardo. Along with Gomez's performance Cypress diving coach Shane Butler was awarded Women's Dive Coach of the Year.
The men turned in several solid performances at the meet. Mark Wyse and Brock Railey competed in individual events, while Mark Wyse, Brock Railey, Brian Vo and Nathan Panter qualified for the top 8 in the 200 freestyle relay and qualified for the consolation finals in the 200 medley, 400 freestyle and 400 medley relays. Wyse, Railey, Vo and Panter led off the meet by finishing in 6th place in the 200 freestyle relay (1:26.88). Wyse then recorded an 11th place finish in the 50 freestyle (21.46). They then wrapped up day 1 by finishing 14th in the 200 medley relay (3:40.00).
The men led off day 2 by finishing 12th in the 200 medley relay (1:37.56). Railey then finished 16th in the 100 Backstroke (54.94). In the morning prelims Railey broke the previous school record time (54.65) that he had set at the OEC Championships with a time of 54.53. The men wrapped up the last day of the competition with a 10th place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (3:12.57). Wyse also competed in the 100 freestyle (47.45) and finished 14th. All together the men earned 67 points and placed 16th out of 32 teams.
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